Nourishmat Makes Veggie Gardening Easy

July 12, 2013

Building a garden right is no easy task. From spacing your plants properly to burying your seeds at the right depth to deciding how much water to send their way, there's a lot to account for if you want to do things correctly. And it's usually the kind of thing you tend to get wrong the first couple times out. The Nourishmat takes that kind off guesswork off the table. We are thinking this actually might be a great tool to get little kids interested in gardening also.

Made by San Francisco-based Earth Starter, it's no high-tech gardening tool. Instead, it's just a large piece of roll-out tarp that you're supposed to lay down on your garden before putting the seeds in. The surface features designated sections for different kind of vegetables, with each section containing multiple holes with adequate spacing so you'll know exactly where to sow the seeds.

The Nourishmat is, essentially, a guiding stencil of sorts for your vegetable garden, letting you know exactly where to put each type of seed, so everything sits in an ideal arrangement. It measures 4 x 6 inches, with designated spaces for 19 vegetable types that include tomatoes, eggplants, radishes, onions, carrots and more. Since the tarp covers the unplanted areas of the soil, it also acts as a weed barrier, potentially sparing you from having to pull weed out of the garden later. It also includes a built-in drip irrigation system that's designed to connect to your push-button tap hose to simplify watering duties.

To further ease your gardening work, the mat comes with its own seeds that are housed in small pods called seedballs. Instead of just seeds, each seedball contains a mixture of compost, worm castings, clay and chili powder to help the plants retain moisture, deter pests and enjoy access to sufficient nourishment. To plant, simply push each seedball into the designated spot on the ground with your fingers -- no digging required.

Currently, Nourishmat is a Kickstarter project collecting pledges. You can reserve yourself a unit for pledges starting at $99.